Pages

Sunday, February 7, 2016

The most expensive funeral in history: Alexander of Macedon mourns his dearest friend Hephaestion

Novels and movies perhaps fall
too easily into the temptation of over-romanticizing Alexander the Great. In my
view Alexander was both a tyrant and a hero of the ancient world. He was
clearly a tyrant, since in India and Tyre the Macedonian army committed
massacres that would be considered genocidal by modern standards. Paradoxically
Alexander was also a hero of the ancient world, since he brought great wealth
and authority to his followers. But of course that is only because ancient
heroes were judged by their victories over others, not by saving children or by
achievement in sports as in our modern times. Perhaps an attenuating factor
when evaluating these atrocities is that Macedonians replicated the brutal war
actions already present in the ancient world. In Persia there were Greek slaves
working as artisans and these often had a body-part – such as a nose, hand or
limb – cut from them in order to prevent their rebellion. The picture below
shows a Greek influenced Persian gold cup from around 400 BC. This object is a very precious item. Since gold can be melted to form new objects (unlike marble sculptures), then few such artworks survive from antiquity. This beautiful cup inspires the feeling that perhaps the slave Greek artisan who made it lived an unhappy life and these artworks were the only joy he knew.

However, for all their brutality
ancient men valued friendship and art in ways as strong as we do. In my
view a defining moment in Alexander’s life was when Hephaestion
passed away. Until then the conqueror had lived the life of an unbreakable
hero, admired by the whole world. Who knows if perhaps at that moment Alexander
felt vulnerable and mortal just like all men? Upon hearing of the deceasing of
his best friend (or perhaps his lover, obviously we will never know), Alexander
interrupts the celebrations organized for the return of his soldiers
from India, orders the execution of the physician in charge (Alexander, the
tyrant again…) and then mourns for two days next to Hephaestion’s corpse. When
Alexander’s companions pull him away from the decaying body, the Macedonian
king will begin the plans for what may have been the most expensive funeral
rites in history. Alexander wishes to offer his friend a departure more dramatic
and pompous than of any of the great kings. The pictures below show the busts
of Alexander and Hephaestion.

Soon Hephaestion’s body is
mummified and transported in a gilded coffin to Babylon. There Alexander
requests a grand funeral pyre from architect Stasicrates, an endeavor which
lasts six months. In an early spring dawn several thousands of Macedonian and other Hellenic soldiers who followed the expeditions of Alexander gather for the last
goodbye. Decorated horses in golden clothes and painted war elephants face the
silent men. In front rises a wooden palace some 60 meters tall and 200 square
meters in area. The great building has seven floors, with each tier supported
by gigantic wood columns carved with beautiful figures. Each detail sculpted as
if to last forever and yet meant to burn in a single morning. The first story
had 240 ships painted gold with red flags flowing in between. In the second one
the columns resembled flaming torches surround by golden wreaths, serpents and
eagles. Above mounted a hunting scene, towered by a battle of centaurs and
mythological creatures. The fifth story was a golden jungle of lions, bulls and
elephants, shining like planets in the dawning light. The next tier presented
the arms of Macedon and Persian, while the seventh level bore sculptures of
sirens with a hollow interior where women would chant in lament. On top of it
all rose the sarcophagus of Hephaestion. Below I show artistic drawings of what
Hephaestion’s funeral pyre might have looked like in a splendid morning plus the drawing of a decorated army elephant.

As the singers descended the
stairs, still singing the funeral chants, the early sun was rising in the sky,
when Alexander threw down his torch, followed by several of his men. It is easy
to imagine the bonfire spreading through each step of the gigantic pyre, ascending
upwards as a cataract of flames and smoke. The tower started to creak and as
the heavy sculptures and columns would fall from high, eagles, lions, serpents,
plunging in flames with a thudding noise. The heat, glow and sound reverberated
in the distance until
all became ash.

After the ceremony Alexander
requests for the sacred flame of the temple of Babylon to be extinguished, an
act reserved for the death of the great king himself. The funeral ceremony was followed
by 15 days of celebration with a theater and music festival, besides a large
arena where over 3000 athletes competed in sports and games. One must imagine
the impact of such an event, since Hellene athletes of the time practiced
sports almost naked. The audience must have seen ball games, wrestler and
runners everywhere fighting for victory with their naked muscles. Below I show
artistic images of athletic games and Dionysian music festivals.

Some estimate Hephaestion’s
funeral to have costed the equivalent of 2.3 billion USD, similar as a Forbes
billionaire burning its entire fortune to mourn a companion. Such was the
emotion lived by Alexander and his companions in life. Of course, one may think
that the pyramids of Egypt were more expensive tombs, however those were
monuments meant to last forever and not merely a funeral rite. This funeral was
extensively described by ancient historian Diodorus Siculus, but it goes
unmentioned in several other ancient sources. Some modern historians, such as
Robin Lane Fox, express some doubts about whether this funeral really happened or
whether Diodorus was confused a crazy plan conceived by Alexander and that
never really materialized. In my personal opinion I believe it is more likely
that Diodorus was describing real events, although perhaps a bit exaggerated.
After all Alexander was the wealthiest man of his age and often had no qualms
about spending the money he pillaged during his invasions. One can even think
that his expeditions to Afghanistan and Pakistan were merely the result of his
wish to spend funds to gain more glory, since those were backward regions that
his men really did not want to invade. Therefore why not believe that the
Macedonian king would not have spent on a lavish funeral for a friend? More recently
a gigantic tomb was discovered in Greece, which some people think could be the
final resting place built for Hephaestion:

Dear reader, if you read carefully there is nothing implied about the sexuality behaviour of Alexander. In fact the text explicitly writes that we cannot know for certain and therefore any of us can hold different opinions on the matter.

Also, in relation to your previous comment. The post does not imply Alexander the Great was a weak man. In fact he was clearly one of the most influential men in history. No general in history was as successful as Alexander. Alexander and Phillip his father were also brave because they led their army from the front line themselves. After them no one can say the same, neither Caesar, Heraclitus or Napoleon led their armies from the front. This will be the subject of a new post in a few weeks.

The post only meant to remind readers that Alexander's age (not just Greeks, but Romans and Persians and everyone else) was a cruel one. It was an age when children and women were enslaved as animals. This is something Hollywood does not show and that I wanted to remind readers

"However, for all their brutality ancient men also valued friendship and art in ways as strong as we do."

The writer is obviously confused in his views of our social values and standards both then and now.

The genocide that happens today around the world in the name of 'democracy' is no less brutal. Take afghanistan, Libya, syria amd Iraq. The operations being planned today against Iran 'modern Persia' will be even more brutal and the 'smart bombs' more indiscriminate of womem and children. Also it is entirely for pillaging their oil reserves. Alexander at least had the honor, as you say to step into the battle.

Friendship then was friendship. Less can be said for our vacant facebook friendships. And finally art.. this was glorious in all realms unlike the art in our disposable vacant Bieber culture. Not only the Greeks appreciated it but they invented it. They invented architecture, theatre, oratory, poetry. Our society today lacks the aesthetics, our entertainment is vulgar and disposable as are the products we furiously consume end up as toxic land fills. Our garments and appliances are manufactured by modern slave labor. In our own cities people starve and die on the streets.

So to all those who think that humanity has evolved since ancient Greece, think again. Our proud western civilization would have been viewed by the Greeks as a self-flattering and self-destructive, exhausting, emotionally unstable flock of ostrogoths, vizigoths, vikings and other barbarians with technology. Ipads that we're waiting to pounce on eachother in a que for the latest model.

Finally on homosexuality, I'm not sure why this is the one and only detail that every seems to dwell on. Homosexuality as we identify it today didnt exist in ancient Greece. It was identified more as a behavioral phase or even one of learning and mentoring. There was not the stigma or social pressure seen today for one to have to 'come out' and define and label himself as 'homosexual'. So there was nothing to chuckle about or to parade about either!

We have a lot to learn from the ancient Greeks. One first thing is that man is unchanged by time and all epochs amd that darwinian theory is misanthropic. A second is that barbarians will always be barbarians and the civilized will be civilized.

When you say 'barbarians will always barbarians' do you mean 'barbarians' in the ancient Greek sense or as synonyme for 'not civilised/ savages' ? If you are equating the 'bararians' in the ancient Greek sense to 'uncivilised /savages, it won't do since Persians, Egyptians, Indians and Chinese were already highly civilised at that time. I agree about theatre but poetry is very ancient elsewhere too. Did the ancient Greek invent Architecture ?!!! Egyptian architectural realisations are very ancient, Achaemenid Persipolis ruins still look impressive and Megasthenes, the 4th century BC Greek envoy of Seleucus to India says that even Susa did not compare favorably with Pataliputra, the capital of Maurya empire. Well, ancient Greece was a great civilisation but there were not the only great, there were others at that time too.

there is a confusion with 'barbarians'here.Greeks used the term to describe non greek speakers.It is obvious from ancient greek literature that the considered both the egyptians and the persians civilised(see the play'persians'for example.The use of the term to describe non civilised peoples is later,and begun with Rome

1. Have you seen the cruelty of modern wars? Human nature has not changed. War is a war.2. His sexuality is unknown as yours mine or everyone else. So why do you bring it up? If you had prepared an article for Napoleon would you also bring it up? Unnecessary to write about. 3. May I remind you that although cruel he was the only one worshipped like God until nowadays? I have read similar comments from others. This should concern you.

And since Alexander was a tyrrant, why people in Persia Pakistan and all these areas valued and honored Greeks the most?Why as the ORIGINAL historians say he married his officers and soldiers with locals?You need to understand a few things first, at those time (and even now) in teems of Ithos (moral value) the Greeks were by far better than the rest.Second, in Ancient Greece slaves were not the slaves that we think of the Roman times or even worse in the South US before the civil war, or even the slaves the Dutch French or British had in the conquistadors times and of course not the ones Muslims mean.In most cities of Greece, Athens and the Ionian cities for sure, slaves were almost better than todays workers.for instance the "owner" could would not take his slave's life for no reason and they would not "throw away" an old and useless slave but keep him.So if that was the treatment to slaves you really think it was worse to the rest of the people that were by Alexander proclaimed as free men?(of as stands until our times, if you try to rebel you would be punished)..So besides not giving them the right to vote and send a King away what were the tyrrant part?.I would think that besides you really beautyfull description of the burial (which in some ways reminded me of the description of Achliles shirld by Homer) for the rest you need to use other resourses too, as after 1990's there were many so called "historians" wrote numerous books trying to slowly degrade the fame and valor of Alexander the Great but you need to ask yourself, why did this information came to the surface by that time and not before?what changed?did anybody time traveled and got new info, or it us just another try to discredit a truly great man?

Dear reader, I understand your point about the comparison of Greeks with other peoples of the time. The article refers to that when I mention that Macedonians merely replicated war actions that were used by everyone in their age. I am also not trying to degrade the fame and valor of Alexander. I merely point out that Hollywood movies and many novels portray an incomplete portrait of the man and his age. That was an age where men enslaved women and children. Movies and novels write a half-truth when they overly romanticize ancient wars that caused many casualties and pain.

Thanks for expressing your opinion about Alexander. These "facts" as you present them already exist out there in the literature written by those who admire and those who hate Alexander. You haven't added much in either information or insight.

Dear Carlos,I read your Bio and this interesting article.I would like to read more from you but PLEASE start from the basics than you do articles for Ancient Greece. Macedonians ARE Greek, do not fall on this trap that uneducated people do for their own reasons...Thank you !

Thank you very much, Kerry. I just started one month ago and I was really surprised by the number of visits and reactions on this page. I never expected to achieve over 10,000 visits in just one month. I will keep writing once a week.

Please consider to put Alexander's wars into the right context, it was not simply imperialistic. Persia had massacred the Greek states for centuries before Alexander United the Greeks and went after the Persian empire. This does not justify the means but it is a vital component when trying to understand history. People who express opinions on such a complex character such as Alexander usually get stuck in contemporary cliches and preconceptions such as the killings and his sexuality. Understand that in his time these elements were almost trivial. You have to be a 300bc scholar first and then offer opinion.